The Choices We Made
by RomyBriggsy
Summary: During the apocalypse, you have to make a lot of important choices. Nick, Ellis, Rochelle and Coach chose survival, but then Nick chose what looked like certain death so that the others could choose probable life. However, Ellis made a choice when the group first got together that he would stick with Nick, no matter what. Cover image is by Theladynina but edited by me.
1. Chapter 1: Quick Thinking

May | 2016

When Ellis was knocked down by a charger, he remembered seeing a lot of white and feeling a pair of strong arms pick him up and carrying him away. At first, he thought he'd died and struggled weakly to escape the clutches of whatever was carrying him.

Then he heard a gruff voice say "Stay still kiddo, you're hurt real bad," and knew very well that he wasn't dead yet.

Slowly his surroundings came back to him, and Ellis began to try and make sense of what was happening. He was being carried by Nick, who was running with Coach and Rochelle to a helicopter, while trying to fight off a hoard of zombies at the same time. He had just been grabbed by one of those one armed monsters and thrown against something hard, most likely the floor and the impact had made his vision blur and his mind go slow. He groaned in pain as his mind cleared enough to register the pain in his head, and felt the arms holding him tighten in response.

Suddenly, he heard a roaring sound that got louder every second. He opened his eyes and managed to make out the helicopter they were running to, and the pilot in the front seat that was yelling something and waving his arms like he was on fire. Nick yelled something in return, though everyone was yelling so much Ellis probably wouldn't have heard him if he was alright, and suddenly Ellis felt himself being lifted up and practically dropped onto the floor of the helicopter, with Rochelle, Coach and Nick scrambling on after him. A bloodied hand reached into the helicopter after them, but Coach kicked out and knocked it away before it could find something to grab on to, and Rochelle and Nick managed to shove the door closed before another limb could try their luck.

Coach gasped for breath, then let out a relived chuckle; "Didn't think we were gonna make it that time…" He knocked on the window leading to the pilot's room and said "Up an' at 'em if ya please sir!" A laughed 'yessir' came in through the grey wall, and everyone jolted as the aircraft tried to lift off.

Rochelle gave a small laugh before kneeling down to look over Ellis's wounds. She lifted his shirt to inspect a gash Ellis was too dazed to feel but Ellis was too dazed to even register the action. He was too busy staring at Nick through unfocused eyes and wondering why Nick was staring back with eyes glassier than his own. Nick blinked at Ellis and gave him a small grin, before glancing out of the window, where his grin quickly turned to a confused frown. He stood up and poked his head through the small window leading to the pilot's room;

"Hey, why haven't we taken of yet?" Nick asked, snapping his fingers as if he was talking to waiter. The pilot stuck his head through the window, almost making Nick fall over, and yelled over the noise of the blades;

"Somethin's holding us down! I can't get it up!" The aircraft seemed to whir in agreement, and Nick had to grab onto the wall to stop him from toppling over. The group moaned collectively in annoyance, with Coach smacking his forehead and mumbling 'For god's sake…' under his breath. Nick grabbed the axe he had thrown to the floor upon entering the helicopter and jammed the thin end of the blunt and bloody head into the gap between the door and the wall, opening the door just enough for him to look outside. He was met by the half-gone face of a zombie that tried to claw Nick's face the second the door opened, but the axe blocked their arm from getting too close and Nick was able to stamp it down before peering outside. He swore under his breath and wrenched the axe out of the gap before he slammed the door shut again and sat down in an annoyed huff, with his hands rubbing small circles into his temples.

"Wassisit Nick?.." Ellis murmured, his voice slurred from the injury. Nick took his hands away from his head to meet Ellis's gaze and gave a small scowl.

"'S a bunch of them clinging onto the bottom of the copter, think there's even a spitter getting in on the action," he groaned, letting his head fall back against the wall, "they're not going anywhere fast."

"Gad dammit..." Ellis mumbled, letting his head hit the floor to mirror Nick's actions, and immediately regretting it when the impact made his head spin. He heard Nick chuckle, and grinned in spite of the pain at the sound. He lifted his head again and eyed Nick with expectant eyes;

"What we gonna do now?"

Nick's smile wavered, then dropped completely as he sat back.

"Damned if I know, El," he sighed, folding his arms, "not much we can do, really."

"So we should just wait it out?" Rochelle queried, crossing one leg over the other and tilting her head. Nick shrugged, and opened his mouth so say something, but before he could even make a sound the entire vehicle was shoved forwards, and he would've fallen right on to Ellis if he hadn't held onto the rail attached to the ceiling.

"What the fu-!" Nick started, before another, equally strong blow to the helicopter cut him off. Ellis had slid to the left side of the helicopter and banged his head for what felt like the 5th time that day, but he was able to peer upwards and see the bloodied mark of a charger's fist on the window, with the bloodied face of that charger appearing behind it very quickly.

"CHARGER!" Ellis yelled, scrambling to sit up while also sliding down again with every blow. Another fierce shove almost turned the helicopter on it's side, and the group fell to the ground with Ellis and lay in a struggling mass of panicked bodies. The pilot yelled something but it was too noisy for anyone to hear him, and Ellis just clung onto the bodies laying on top of him in search of some kind of stability. Nick reached out and grabbed on to a handle to ready himself, and looked out the window with furious eyes before turning to the rest of the group;

"The thing's gonna crush us if we don't get rid of it!" He yelled, grabbing Rochelle's hand and pulling her up. Rochelle leaned on the wall and glared at the window;

"How we gonna get something THAT big of our asses?!" She yelled, her breathing quickening with every thump. Nobody said a word, and Ellis's throat began to feel tight as he realized how serious the situation is. They were in a helicopter with too many injuries and barely enough ammo to take down a regular hoard, let alone a charger. Staying would get them crushed, while leaving would get them eaten, and there was no way they could fly away with a horde that size holding them down.

"We're gonna die, ain't we.." He said, though he wasn't really sure who he was talking to. There was a moment of silence, then Nick was shaking his head furiously and glaring at Ellis as if he'd just insulted him.

"The hell we are, we'll- we'll find a way outa this. We gotta-" The charged grabbed the helicopter and shook it violently, and Nick fell backwards against the door of the helicopter, his head dangerously close to smashing the glass. He yelped and clutched the back of his head, before eyeing the charger through the window.

Among the panic and commotion within the helicopter, Ellis watched as Nick took his hand away from his head without taking his eyes off the charger. He seemed to have an idea, but didn't say a word, and instead just stood and stared. Ellis propped himself up on his elbows and called out to Nick, and it seemed to snap Nick out of his trance as he turned to face Ellis with a blank, yet subtly forlorn expression. For a second, they just stared, then Nick surged forward and gripped Ellis in a strong hug. Ellis opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when he realized how tight Nick was holding him. He ended up hugging him back, assuming it was some form of goodbye, but he'd barely wrapped his arms around Nick's back when Nick was pulling away and staring straight into Ellis's confused eyes, both hands gripping his shoulders.

"Stay alive for me, alright El? And keep everyone else alive for me, okay? Alive and well, gotit?" Nick rambled, highlighting each strange request with a hurried nod. Ellis didn't know what to think, but nodded anyway, and would have opened his mouth to ask what he meant if Nick hadn't shaken his shoulders and looked at him with eyes that seemed mad with a fear Ellis had never seen before. "No, I wanna hear you say it. Tell me you'll stay alive, El. Tell me."

"I-I'll stay alive." Ellis stammered, reaching up to grab on to one of Nick's arms and pull slightly to stop him from squeezing his shoulders too hard. Nick stared at Ellis, then nodded and mumbled a thank you before standing up and grabbing his AK47 with one hand. He used his other hands to grab onto the rail above his head, steadying himself so he could face everyone. Coach and Rochelle had seen Nick talking to Ellis, and were both trying and failing to form a sentence to respond to what they'd seen, but Nick silenced them by gesturing to them with his shotgun and talking in a hurried, yet decisive voice.

"That goes for all of you guys, alright?" He stood there for a second as if awaiting an answer, but when he was met with more silence he reached out and grabbed the door to the helicopter with the hand that had been holding the rail, and then turned to the group and spoke again;

"Close it the second I'm out, alright?"

Rochelle was the first to process his words, and stood up with her mouth open to yell at Nick, but Nick got there first and yelled "Don't- Just do it, alright? We don't have a choice anymore."

"Nick...?" Ellis asked, his head too foggy to realize what was really happening. Nick didn't seem to hear him, and instead kept his eyes on Rochelle. Rochelle just stood and stared, eyes blank but filling with tears. Eventually she nodded, raising a hand to wipe away said tears and reaching out to grab at the door to the helicopter as well. Coach didn't do anything, just staring at Nick like he couldn't believe what was happening. Nick stared back and gave a decisive nod, which prompted Coach to sit up straight and grab the machete at his feet, before looking back at Nick and nodding. Nick looked at the floor, then turned and yelled to the pilot to get ready to take off, but Ellis didn't listen. He reached out for Nick, but Rochelle used her foot to shove him back, eyes spilling over with silent tears.

Nick stood for a second, and in that second the world seemed to stand still. Ellis stared at him, his mind wanting Nick to come closer but somehow knowing he was going to go far away, while Nick felt his life flash before him, with every moment he'd ever lived leading up to this moment.

He grabbed the door handle, wrenched the door open and opened fire on the hoard outside. The noises outside hit the group like a smack, and the once still moment turned into a rapid fire of events nobody could fully process. Nick shot until there was enough room to leap out, and then he did. He turned around the second his feet hit the floor and shot blindly at the infected clinging to the bottom of the helicopter, before moving backwards with his gun still firing and yelling "GOGOGOGOGO" at the top of his voice. The charger that was grabbing the helicopter on the other side almost flipped the aircraft over as it pushed it out the way and came charging towards Nick, and it would have hit him head on if Nick hadn't jumped out the way and ran backwards towards the abandoned town they had just left, still shooting and letting with urgency as the horde chased after the new prey. Ellis yelled words he couldn't hear himself over the noise as he reached for Nick, but the others held him back and soon Ellis saw the world before him disappear as the helicopter took off. He screamed and struggled more to get up, but Coach practically lay on top of him to hold him back while Rochelle snapped out of her shock and tried to pull the door closed, though the bloody gunk left behind by the hoard jammed the door enough for it to take a while.

It meant Ellis could watch as Nick fled, eventually lowering his gun when it was out of ammo to just run. He watched as Nick scrambled up onto the roof of a nearby house, the charger just missing his leg as he got up and ran up the chimney, where he sat for a second. He watched as Nick looked up at the helicopter, and grinned with delight as he watched the helicopter fly away. He seemed to be smiling at Ellis, and in the last few seconds of the door being opened Ellis saw him raise his free hand and wave.

Then the door slammed, and the image was gone. Ellis struggled and yelled until each second blurred together into one heartbroken moment. He recalled later on a whole lot of swearing, insults and pathetic attempts at hitting Coach and Rochelle, but nobody could bring themselves to stop him.

Slowly but surely, the helicopter flew away, and even though everyone wanted to land again they kept flying, all silently thanking and praying for the man in the white suit.


	2. Chapter 2: The Right Decision

January | 2016

The McKinny farm always felt like it was cut off from the rest of the world. Granted, it wasn't in the middle of nowhere. It was in a decent sized town with a decent amount of people in it, and there was a decent amount of stuff to do if you knew where to look, but it never seemed to change. Nobody left, nobody came. People passed through, but they never stuck around for long. Everyone seemed to live in a routine that was familiar and certain. It was the way Ellis liked it.

"Yo El! Wake your dumbass up, we got work to do!"

Ellis jumped, and jokingly punched Keith in the shoulder when he started laughing at him. Keith just laughed harder, his mop of ginger hair bouncing at the movement, before reaching out to grab Ellis by the shoulder and pull him towards the barn. Ellis laughed and shrugged off Keith's hand, following him to the stable where the horses were waiting for their dinners. The sunlight streamed through the many cracks in the wood, coating the stable in golden streaks, and the entire scene felt like something you'd see in a feel-good movie. Ellis sighed contently, and grinned a cheesy smile as he held up the bucket of feed still half full from breakfast up to the first horse's mouth and watched it snuffle up the pellets. Life was good.

The gurgled moan that came suddenly from the forest that wound around the back of the farm was... _less_ good.

"...What in the name of honey glazed ham was that shit?" Keith asked, taking off his hat and running a hand through his mop of hair. Ellis shrugged, then froze when he heard the noise again, now sounding more pained than before. Ellis raised his eyebrows and slowly put the bucket down.

"Should we go see what it is?" He asked, motioning towards the forest. Keith nodded, and quickly grabbed an old broom and held it against his chest defensively, looking at Ellis as if he expected judgement. Instead of saying something, Ellis nodded and then reached out and grabbed a shovel and held it over his shoulder, trying and failing to look nonchalant. He looked at Keith, then at the forest and then back at Keith, before shrugging. Keith nodded, and gulped as he and Ellis slowly crept out the stable and towards the forest, makeshift weapons in hand. Ellis was sweating slightly, his mind racing with ideas about what could be causing the noise. An injured hiker, an injured animal, maybe some kind of monster, he had no idea what to expect. He looked over at Keith, who looked equally confused and worried, but grinned goofily at Ellis when he saw him looking. Ellis grinned back, but the grin fell when the moan came again, now even louder and sounding agitated, as if it knew that they were coming. Ellis held his shovel tighter and moved forward determinedly, and Keith followed, trying to stay quiet.

The pair eventually reached the back of the stable and began to creep into the forest. The forest was normally a quiet and peaceful place, unless Keith had decided to go hunting or try another stupid stunt. It was still quiet, but now it wasn't as peaceful as Ellis remembered. It now felt dangerous, too quiet and too still, like the calm before a storm. Besides the crackling of sticks and leaves underfoot and the occasional waft of wind disturbing the still area, it was completely silent.

It was then that the smell hit them both. It was the smell of something putrid and horrible, like death itself, and it clung to their noses like it had claws to dig into their skin. Ellis wrinkled his noise and stopped to process the smell, with Keith almost falling on to him as he did.

"What the hell is that?" Muttered Keith, nudging Ellis with his elbow to show that he wanted an answer. Ellis shrugged, then shook his head as if to shake the smell away and continued forward. He followed his nose till he eventually he heard another moan, and was able to follow it.

They came to a small stream that flowed through the forest. Ellis looked up and down it in search of whatever was making the noise and smell, and then Keith startled him;

"Hey El! Look!" He whispered, pointing as the river. Ellis looked, and saw a patch of redish-brown water flowing down the river. Ellis blinked at it, then turned to Keith.

"...S' blood, isn't it?" Keith asked. Ellis nodded, and gulped. That blood couldn't be a coincidence. It belonged to whatever was moaning, and that thing was either injured or had injured something else, and Ellis wasn't sure which option was better. Ellis and Keith followed the river upstream, watching silently as more patches of blood floated past. Eventually they heard another series of groans, quick and desperate. Ellis raised his shovel with both hands and tread as quietly as possible, but the lack of noise didn't make the... _thing_ less agitated, and in fact it seemed to get louder and sounded more like a grunt than a groan, like it was trying to move but was, for whatever reason, finding it hard to do so.

Suddenly, Ellis spotted a heap of red and brown mess lying haphazardly across the thin river. It looked like someone had tripped while crossing the river and was now lying with their feet on one side and their head on the other, trying to get up but either slipping or being pushed by the water. They stopped groaning when Ellis was close enough to see them properly, and they slowly raised their head to look at him. They were bleeding badly, with a large wound on their head and blood streaked across their tattered clothes. When Ellis saw that it was a human and not some kind of monster, he dropped his shovel and quickly ran over, yelling over his shoulder at Keith that it was a person before kneeling by the body and putting a hand on their shoulder.

"Hey, hey man, you okay?!" He asked, shaking the person's shoulder slightly. The person seemed to growl at Ellis, and they tried to lash out at him, only to slip and miss. Ellis jumped back, surprised, then turned to face Keith once he was sure he was out of reach of the deranged person.

"Fuck's wrong wiv him?" Keith asked, holding his broom to his chest defensively. Ellis shrugged and quickly jumped away when the person swiped at him again. Keith grabbed Ellis by the shoulder and pulled him upright and away from the person as it struggled to get up. Ellis shuffled backwards until he was behind Keith and reached out to poke the body with the end of his shovel. The person growled and tried to grab the shovel, but Ellis yanked it out of the way before it could get a good hold on it.

"We..we should probably get outa here, y'know?" Keith asked. Ellis nodded and lowered his shovel, eyes still fixed on the body.

"I mean, I ain't scared or nothin-"

"Yeah, me neither." Said Ellis.

"We just don'know what it is-"

"An' it looks dangerous, so we need to go 'n get help."

"Yeah..."

Neither man said a word for a moment, just staring as the person shuffled around and growled. Then they simultaneously turned and quickly scampered away through the trees, makeshift weapons clutches to their chests like shields. They soon reached the farm and dashed inside to look for Ellis's mother or father, but found the house empty. Ellis slapped his forehead and groaned;

"They've gone out ta' town fer supplies, aven't they?" He said, and Keith groaned loudly. Ellis scratched his head, wondering what to do.

"Guess we gotta wait till they get back, they ain't got a phone or nothin'."

Keith sighed, and leaned against the open doorway to the house, taking his hat off and letting his ginger curls spring up.

"The fuck _is_ that thing?" He asked, staring as Ellis as if he had an answer. Ellis said nothing, chewing his lip, then he turned decisively and turned on the old radio in the corner.

"What're ya doin?" Keith asked, but Ellis ignored him and continued to fiddle with the dials on the radio until it found a station. Eventually the crackling subsided into a monotone voice;

"-DO NOT STOP TO EVACUATE ANYONE ELSE UNLESS YOU ARE CERTAIN THEY CANNOT EVACUATE ON THEIR OWN. DO NOT COME IN CONTACT WITH ANY INDIVIDUALS INFECTED WITH THE GREEN FLU. DO NOT EVACUATE ANYONE INFECTED WITH THE GREEN FLU. INDIVIDUALS INFECTED WITH THE GREEN FLU ARE HIGHLY DANGEROUS AND MUST BE AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS."

There was a small pause in the recording, dotted with crackles, then the announcement started from the beginning:

"ATTENTION. THIS IS AN EMERGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT. ALL INDIVIDUALS ARE TO EVACUATE TO THE WEST COST AREA IMMEDIATELY. DO NOT STOP TO EVACUATE ANYONE-"

Ellis changed the station once he realized that the recording was looping, but every station had the same message. Eventually Ellis gave up and turned it off, turning to look at Keith with confused eyes.

"...Think the... _weird guy's_ got the green flu?" he asked, gesturing over his shoulder to the 'weird guy' in the forest. Keith shrugged, and murmured 'probably' in a quiet voice. Ellis scratched the back of his head and exhaled heavily.

"Well, the thing says we gotta get outa here-"

"An' stay away from the weird guy-"

"Yeah. So we should probably-"

"Yeah."

Ellis nodded, then awkwardly put down his shovel and murmured to Keith that he was gonna get his stuff. Keith nodded, choosing not to remind Ellis that the recording had told them not to pack and instead choosing to sit on the arm of the couch and wait while Ellis shuffled back to his room to grab some stuff. Just the basics; his wallet, his keys, a bag of mints he hadn't finished yet, his pistol, just stuff he really needed. The entire situation felt surreal, like it wasn't really happening. The green flu was apparently just a flu that was caused by some kind of contamination in the east coast. It wasn't serious, it was contained by CEDA officials and was meant to be under control but not it seemed to be loose. Ellis shook his head to try and get rid of his thoughts and shoved his belongings into the pockets of the coveralls tied around his waist before quickly heading out of his room, stopping to grab his shovel and let Keith out of the house first when he reached the living room. They silently walked to the truck and would've gotten in and drove off if the sudden growl from behind them hadn't thrown a spanner into their plan.

Ellis whipped around and saw that the growl had come from what looked like a middle aged woman, though the amount of flesh they were missing made it hard to tell. The person stood inbetween the house and the garage for a second before running at Keith and Ellis at an impressive speed for someone with parts of their legs missing, reaching Ellis first and knocking him to the floor.  
Ellis yelled in surprise as he fought to keep the woman off him. The woman growled and spat at Ellis as she struggled to bite his face, and Ellis could smell blood on her breath. Tanned hands appeared on the woman's shoulders as Keith yanked her off Ellis and threw her in the direction of the truck, with both people almost tripping over in the process. Ellis quickly grabbed his shovel off the floor and held it in front of him, waving it slightly to show the woman that he had a weapon, but the woman ignored the display and ran at him again, this time narrowly missing him as Ellis dodged out of the way.

"FUCKIN HIT IT, EL. GET IT!" Keith squealed, gesturing wildly at the woman as if he thought Ellis couldn't see it. Composing himself, Ellis held the shovel by the handle and held it up like it was a baseball bat, swinging it when the woman ran again and hitting the back of her head with a solid clang. The woman fell, and knelled for a second before Ellis was hitting her in the back of the head a second time, knocking her on to her stomach and seemingly knocking her out cold. The men stood and stared at the body for a second, before simultaneously running to Ellis's truck and leaping in. Keith yelled for Ellis to drive and Ellis did not disappoint as he hit the petal hard and sped away with a could of dust, covering the body and mixing with the pools of blood.

For a moment, neither man said a word. Then Keith spoke without turning to Ellis, keeping his eyes locked on the road in front of them;

"What the hell Ellis," he said in a hushed voice, "what. the hell."

"I dunno..." Ellis said, glancing in his mirror to see if the woman was following them. The men fell back into their confused silence again, and Ellis's mind raced to break the silence.

"...Hope the horses get out okay..." he murmured eventually, remembering that the stable doors were thankfully unlocked and open so the horses could escape. Keith didn't respond, and the men drove in silence as they made their way towards the town and towards the CEDA center that had been set up around a month ago. Ellis remembered how mad the townsfolk had been about it, saying that the green flu was just glorified swine flu and that it wasn't worth the trouble.

He wondered if those people were there now, taking back every word they said.

The second the men reached the town, the silence was broken. The streets were packed with cars and the pavements were chock full or crowds of people, all trying to move forward and getting blocked by others with the same goal. Ellis and Keith groaned at the same time, knowing that they would be here a while and being annoyed by it. Keith swore under his breath, and Ellis mentally agreed with the string of curses he directed at the traffic jam before sitting back in his chair and sighing.

After what felt like hours but had only been a few minutes, the pair had shuffled slowly from the start of the street to the end and were trying to get round the corner. Keith was sitting on the roof of the truck with his legs dangling in through the sunroof and Ellis was determinedly beeping his horn, though it was drowned out by the other cars with the same idea. Ellis wanted to scream, and closed his eyes before bumping his head against the steering wheel in annoyance, underlining each bump with a curse word said under his breath.

Suddenly the noise outside dwindled into silence. Ellis quickly raised his head and looked out of the window to see that everyone was looking behind them with confused expressions, heads cocked as they listened out for something. Ellis listened out for whatever they were listening out for, and suddenly heard a faraway noise that was quickly coming closer.

It was screaming. Not a lot at first, but it quickly grew until everyone was yelling. People abandoned their cars and fled on foot, and the people on foot raced into open doors and windows to escape some unseen threat. Ellis yelled up to Keith to find out what was happening only to have Keith slide in through the sunroof and curl into a ball in the foot space of his seat, frantically gesturing for Ellis to do the same. Ellis did so, not saying a word due to Keith's silence, and sat next to the pedals as he waited for answers.

Gradually, the screaming crowd fled away down the road, and for a while there was silence. Then suddenly the street was filled with disturbing yells and groans. Ellis remembered the sounds instantly and squeaked in terror, curling into a fetal position and gripping his legs tightly in an effort to stay calm.

The horde of infected people raced past their car in a frenzy. Snarling and screeching and growling like monsters. Ellis watched in terror as some climbed over the top of their truck, almost falling in through the sunroof, but just making it. They all seemed too focused on following the crowd to check the cars for anyone else. Ellis realized that Keith was talking to himself, saying what sounded like prayers, and he prayed in his head at the same time for someone, anyone, to save him.

Then, as soon as the horde had arrived, it stopped. The horde raced down the road and out of sight, though Ellis and Keith didn't get up to watch. They waited until it was completely still again before slowly getting up and sitting in their chairs, facing the dashboard window.

The once packed street was empty, but stained with the remains of the horde and the remains of their victims. There was blood everywhere, and a few infected people could be seen with pieces of townsfolk in their hands, tearing at the flesh greedily. Ellis and Keith stared, horrified, at the town they once knew well, and knew that things were not about to get easier.


End file.
